In My Place
by DaniGirl101
Summary: Sakura was always in the background, watching everyone else go ahead. One day, she dicides to catch up, but what if she takes it too far?


**Chapter I**

Pain, that was the only word to describe it, complete and utter pain. Sakura felt as if every part of her body was being forcefully torn away from her. Her previously received wounds began to burn, as if someone was trying to brand her. Blood then started gushing out by the leter, causing even more pain to arise. Her kimono was now a deep red, stained from top to bottom in her own blood. She felt her muscles being pulled far past their limit, fiber after fiber ripping to shreds. Her bones then began popping out of their sockets, one by one, causing the pain to last longer.

Sakura wished she would just go numb, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, more pain washed over her. Tears filled with blood began to flow slowly down her face, falling off the edge of her chin into the nothingness she was now floating in. She felt as if she would never smile again, as if this horror would be hers, and hers alone, from now until the end of eternity. As if death were the only way out. If she had any control over her body, she would have rid herself of this hell, no second thought. But she was in a world worse then death.

Suddenly, she felt a light motion near her thighs and her upper back. She immediately opened her eyes, finding herself in Sasuke's arms, bridal style, the wind blowing her long pink hair out of her face. The pain, the hurt, the fear, the insanity; all seemed to slip away as the two flew through the air and behind a large tree. As soon as she was let to the ground, Sasuke turned to the tree, peeking around it nervously. Sakura began breathing heavily, trying to regain her composer. She then began going over the past events she had seemed to have forgotten. It soon all came flowing back to her; her team, consisting of herself, Sasuke and Naruto, had entered the chunin exams and were now in the second section, a survival coarse. They still needed to find one more scroll to pass this part of the exam. Naruto had been separated from them, and a creepy man with snakelike features began attacking them for no apparent reason. Next thing she knew, she had found herself in that hellhole.

As she tried to figure out what had happened after that point, she found her gaze moving toward Sasuke's leg. Her eyes widened as she saw the kunai, jerking out from his left thigh. His already bandaged leg was bleeding madly, changing the medicine rap and the fringe of his shorts from a light badge to a deep red. "Sas-" suddenly Sasuke's hand shot up, covering her mouth, muffling her words. He turned around slightly, just enough so he could see her in the corner of his eye. "Sh…" he whispered, turning back to the tree. Sakura noticed his deep breathing and clammy hands and quickly realized he hadn't fully recovered from Orochimaru's attack yet. As she began coming up with reasons why he seemed to be having an after spell, but not her, she saw a sudden glint of light behind her.

She cocked her head slightly, and her eyes widened in fear. She quickly began calling to Sasuke, but his hand still covered her mouth. "Shut up…" he muttered, still peering around the tree for Orochimaru. Sakura's mumble's suddenly stopped. If she could have slapped herself on the forehead she would have. _'God, and I'm supposed to be the smart one!' _She then did what she should have done in the first place, she grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from her face. "Sasuke-kun, watch out!"

Suddenly, a large snake came crashing down on the pair. Luckily, both jumped out of its way in the nick of time. Sakura managed to jump up, onto a very large branch of a nearby tree, as Sasuke leapt to the right. The snake, along with Orochimaru on it's back, turned in Sasuke's direction. As it began slithering closer and closer to Sasuke, Sakura knelt on her branch in complete amazement. Sasuke was standing still, eyes glazed, and body trembling. It was as if he was in that trance again. Her eyes continued to widen. "Sasuke-kun!"

Out of nowhere, a kunai came soaring through the air, landing only inches from the snake and Orochimaru. Orochimaru turned his head slightly upward. Sakura too changed her glance, then a large smile crept over her face. "Naruto!" Her teammate gave his signature grin and a thumbs-up. Strangely enough, he didn't look half as dorky as she remembered._ 'Maybe it is just the lighting…' _Naruto then turned to Orochimaru, and his face hardened. "So, you're the guy who sent that damn mutant snake out to eat me! You have no idea how gross it feels to be in a snake's gut! God, you're gana pay!" Sakura ignored the fact that that sentence made absolutely no sense to her. She was just relived he was there. _'Wow, I'm actually happy to see Naruto. Weird…'_

Orochimaru shrugged, then continued on toward Sasuke, who still stood motionless. The snake plunged toward him, and Sakura clenched the branch below her. Her fingers tightened into fists, causing her knuckles to rub up against the rough bark, and scrape. As blood trickled down to her fingertips, she screamed, "Sasuke-kun!"

A large cloud of dust appeared, just as the snake hit the branch Sasuke stood on. Sakura's through tightened, making her feel as if she hadn't had a thing to drink in days. She pulled her hands even tighter, causing her nails to dig into her palms, small drops of blood dripping from the cuts she made. She squinted to try and get a glance through the dirt. She needed to know if he was ok… he had to be ok… As the dust cleared, she gasped.

There stood Naruto, merely inches from Sasuke's still frozen face. His arms and legs were spread out, blocking the snake's intended path. His head hung low, so Sakura couldn't see his face. Suddenly, he jerked his head upward, "Sasuke, you idiot!" Sakura gasped. Naruto's birthmarks on his checks had grown into gashes, stretching from his nose to his ears. His teeth were jagged, like an animal, and his eyes shone gold, with a cat like slit down the middle. Even his voice changed. _'Is this really Naruto?'_ "You always talk about how you're so great, but when it comes to real danger, you act like a chicken!"

Sasuke's eyes slightly widened, then he collapsed to the ground, hands resting on his knees, breathing very heavily. Sakura let out a deep sigh. _'Looks like he has almost broken the trance. A minute or two more, and he'll be back to his normal self.' _

Suddenly, the snake's tongue wrapped itself around Naruto, pulling him up and placing him only inches from Orochimaru's face. As he squirmed, Orochimaru laughed. "You must be the Kyubi. I was wondering where you were." He then stuck out his own freakishly long tongue, grabbing the base of Naruto's bright orange jacket. He then pulled it up, revealing his stomach. There, right around the bellybutton, was a strange symbol. It appeared to be a sun, with flames portraying from it. Before Sakura could get a good look at it, Orochimaru shoved his hand toward it. A bright blue light was formed where they contacted and Naruto screamed out in pain. Slowly, his eyes, teeth, and scars changed back to normal. Then, suddenly, his scream of pain stopped and his head fell limply to one side. _'Naruto…' _Orochimaru smirked, then through the blond aside.

"Oh no, Naruto!" Sakura quickly jumped to her feet, slipping her bloody hand into her weapon pack. She through a kunai toward Naruto's falling limp body. It snagged the side of his jumpsuit, then pinning him to a tree, saving him from a deadly fall. She then whipped around, now facing Sasuke, who still knelt in a slight trance on the ground. Normally, she wouldn't dare talk to Sasuke, never mind yell at him, but inner Sakura just took over. "Sasuke! I know… I know Naruto is annoying a lot of the time, but… but at least… at least he's doing something!" Tears slowly found their way down her porcelain face, dripping off her chin and to the branch below. Just as her tears made contact with the wood, Sasuke stopped trembling. Sakura blinked, clearing the tears from her damp eyes. Then, Sasuke lifted his head, a smirk on his lips. Sakura caught a glimpse of his eyes, which were now a deep red with two black commas in the center.

Sasuke charged toward Orochimaru, a glint in his eyes Sakura knew too well. He was not going to go easy on this guy. Sakura was just about to fall back to her knees, when she heard something move behind her. She quickly whipped around, a kunai in hand. Sure enough, there was a man in a strange white and red mask and a black cape. Sakura had no time to take in any more of his appearance for he immediately charged right at her. She blocked his kunai with her own, but was hit from the side with a hard kick. She went flying, hitting her back sharply against a nearby tree. As she slid to a stop on one of the branches, she cried out in pain.

The man charged at her again, but she couldn't move. As she closed her eyes, waiting for the worse to come, she felt a light breeze rush by her. When no impact came, she opened her eyes again. There, standing before her in his green tights was Rocklee. "L-lee?" Sakura squeaked. The masked man now lay on the ground a few feet away. Lee turned around to face Sakura, smiling like mad. "Lee, w-what are you doing? I'm on the other team. You-" Rocklee cut her off, giving her a serious look. "I promised to protect you, didn't I?" Sakura thought back to the first time she and Rocklee met. He had pledged his life to her. She smiled slightly, and then nodded. Rocklee smiled again, and then turned back around to face the masked attacker, who was now standing.

Rocklee and the masked figure began clashing kunai. Quickly, Sakura realized Rocklee was at a high disadvantage. He had already attempted to use a highly dangerous move, but failed. Now he was weak, but the opponent wasn't even sweating! "We should end this now." As Sakura looked up at the masked man's words, she realized he had some type of contraption on his arm. Before she could warn Lee, the man pulled his arm back, then sent it forward toward Lee's head. Rocklee managed to back away just in time, but suddenly he fell to the ground, hands over his ears. He screamed in pain and Sakura's eyes widened. "Lee!" She rushed forward, kneeling down beside her savior. He lay on the ground, eyes rolling back into his head, still screaming out in pain. Suddenly, he stopped, and then fell limp. "What did you do to him!" she called, glaring up at the masked man. He let out an evil laugh. "Oh nothing really. I only shattered his eardrums. Nothing to worry about."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. Before she knew what she was doing, she was charging the man down with only her fists as weapons. He let out a slight chuckle, then grabbed her fist as she attempted to punch him in the head. He then took his free hand and used it to shove his kunai into her stomach. She toppled over onto her knees, trying to breath. She grasped her gut with her hands, which were quickly covered in blood, along with her kimono and the bark below her. Suddenly, she felt a hard tug from behind her. Her head jerked back as her hair was being nearly ripped out. She gasped in pain, then found herself looking up into the mask of her attacker. "You should have known to get rid of your lovely locks before becoming a ninja. It only gets in the way." He then jerked her head forward, hitting her in the back of the skull, causing her to cough out a small amount of blood. At this, the masked man laughed. "You're weak, nothing really. I don't see why they let you become a ninja to begin with!"

From where Sakura sat helplessly, she had a good view of everything. Rocklee lay motionlessly on the ground only feet away from her, Naruto still hung limply from the tree, Sasuke searching around franticly for Orochimaru, having little to no luck. _'I-I was always the one to stand in the background. While everyone else fought for me, I stood behind, cheering them on. I-I can't do anything.' _She bowed her head, tears leaking from her eyes to the tip of her nose. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke. He stood, staring at Orochimaru, who was doing multiple hand signals. A sharp chill ran down her spine as his neck began to extend itself, right toward Sasuke. Her eyes widened, still glazed with tears. _'I was always in the background…'_ She slipped her hand into her weapon pack, pulling out a kunai and holding it out in front of her. _'But this time…'_ The man snorted. "That won't work on me!" Sakura turned her head slightly, so the man could she her face. An evil smirk ran across her lips as her eyes glinted. _'Get a good look at my back!' _"It isn't meant for you." Then, out of nowhere, Sakura pulled her kunai behind her head, then in a quick motion, pulled it forward, slicing the mans arm and her own hair. The masked man fell backward, stunned, Sakura's hair floating calmly to the ground around him.

As soon as she was free, Sakura leapt forward. Sasuke stood in shock as Orochimaru's head came charging toward him, his fangs glinting in the early morning sun. His eyes suddenly widened when a pink haired figure leapt in front of him. Sakura screamed in pain as Orochimaru's teeth dug deeper and deeper into her neck. As he extracted his fangs, three comma-like figures appeared on her neck, just above the bite mark. His head then flew backward until it was in its proper position on top his shoulders. Sakura fell to the ground, caught with only milliseconds to spare by Sasuke. As Sasuke looked down at his teammate, his hands trembled. He turned his glance up toward Orochimaru. "What have you done to her!" Orochimaru shrugged. "She really did it to herself you know. Well, now she's cursed, and there is nothing she can do about it. Poor her, you might have been able to survive it with your extreme strength, but her…" Orochimaru glanced down at Sakura, screaming in pain on the floor. "Well… let's just say a funeral should be prepared."

Suddenly, Orochimaru vanished, as if he was never there to begin with. Sasuke blinked, then turned back down to Sakura. "Sakura, can you hear me?" Sakura had stopped crying out in pain, but now lay limply in Sasuke's arms. "Sakura!" Sasuke's hands couldn't stop trembling._ 'I was supposed to be the one to receive that mark, not her. Why did she do that! Why couldn't she just have stayed another stupid fan girl?'_ Sasuke turned his head in Naruto's direction, who still lay unconscious on the tree. "Naruto, Sakura is-" he quickly realized his cries for help were useless. He turned back to Sakura, still lying in his arms, and then he raised his head up to the sky. "Damn it!"


End file.
